The key to building a successful business is starting small and gaining customers one at a time, right? Well, that’s the secret to Nick Endres’ success.

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

The key to building a successful business is starting small and gaining customers one at a time, right? Well, that’s the secret to Nick Endres’ success.

Endres has owned Endres Window Cleaning since 1987, although initially the business, under his ownership, was known as Endres TWE (Transparent Window Engineers). He inherited the original name when he bought the business, after building a clientele from a route he purchased from a friend for $100 per month.

His original window washing route covered clients in Rochester, Albert Lea and Austin and took him about six hours a month. He bid jobs on Mondays and worked for Hormel Foods Corp. from Tuesdays through Saturdays.

After three years of keeping this schedule, he had built the business to a degree that he decided that it was time to make a choice between continuing at Hormel and starting his own business. He chose striking out on his own and hasn’t looked back.

His current business includes clients in Austin, Albert Lea, Owatonna, Northfield, Mason City, Mankato and Faribault.

In particular, he and his employees clean windows on Federated in Owatonna, Midwest Wireless in Mankato, Carleton College in Northfield and River Hills Mall, also in Mankato.

In Austin, clients include the Twin Towers, The Cedars, Pickett Place and the Austin Courtyard Apartments, as well as many storefronts in downtown Austin. In addition, his company cleans the windows of his former employer, Hormel Foods.

Cleaning the windows at Hormel takes three employees 30 hours. Endres said that one man can clean two of the 17 floors per day at the Twin Towers.

His current staff includes two full-time employees and one part-time employee. Dan Jorgenson and Aaron Rector are his full-time employees and Joe Best works part time. During the summer, he said, he expects to employ four full-time and two part-time workers.

Endres uses Dawn dishwashing liquid to clean windows, which is in keeping with 90 percent of commercial window washers.

"The trick is a good squeegee to take it off," he said. By adding methanol to the window washing water, Endres and his employees can work throughout the winter.

Endres and his employees replace their squeegee blade about once a week so that the rubber does not have a chance to dry out. When the rubber becomes old and dried, the Dawn solution does not come off cleanly. He buys his squeegees from LM Culker and Co., a janitorial supply in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Other equipment necessary include anywhere from a two-step stool to a 48-foot ladder, a 5-inch razor blade and a telescoping pole. On occasion, the company must rent a lift to access windows on tall buildings.

Endres was born in Hampton and raised in Hastings. After graduating, he delivered pallets as a truck driver and sided houses for four months, before working at Hormel.

He has been married for the second time to wife Carolyn for four years. Carolyn is from Clear Lake, Iowa. They have a combined family, with 14-year-old son Eric, 13-year-old daughter Becky, 12-year-old son Jordan and 9-year-old daughter Lizzy.

Over the years, Endres has attended many window-washing courses and said that he probably will attend more every four to five years or so.

In 1992 and 1993, he was named as the fastest window cleaner by the International Window Cleaning Association. He won for speed and in medley competition, in which he was judged on the quality and speed of his cleaning on a variety of different sized windows. At one time, he was ranked 18th in the world for cleaning windows against people from 40 states and several countries.

Nowadays, he runs his business out of his house, in rural Austin, outside of Corning. The nature of the business is that most customers do not visit his office.

"You go to them," he said.

His hours are based upon the clients’ needs. One voice mailbox is devoted to residential clients and the other to commercial clients. In the spring and fall, he works about 50 hours per week. Just under 400 accounts in Austin and Albert Lea request monthly service, most of which are storefronts.

He said that he takes some vacation time in the winter, because of the reduced demand for his company’s services during the cold months.

He attributes his success to being the first in line for new business. When a business opens, he said that he has probably already talked with them. And when he hears of another window washer working with a small clientele, Endres contacts them and offers to purchase their business.

"My theory is when you’re dealing with windows, the first one there wins," he said. And he has been there consistently.